The thresholds on doors along with the added height of an adequate weather seal have long been an impediment to the movement of wheelchairs through doorways. There is a growing need for adequately weather sealing of doorways while providing a flush surface to walk through or operate a wheel chair. Conventional thresholds of varying heights with weather strips are a problem for the elderly being a trip hazard when going through. Additionally the weather sealing of doorways is only necessary during inclement weather and the rest of the time the passage of cool air under the door can be a benefit. This unique flush threshold door seal system provides a new and unique sealing method for a wide variety of doorways.
The initial purpose of the design is to provide a weather seal on a flush threshold surface for a variety of folding doors, but it is not limited to folding doors and may be adapted to a variety of door thresholds including hinged entry doorways, garage and warehouse doors or open-air malls along with varying in size for different applications while remaining within the scope of this patent.
The addition of large exterior wall openings incorporating multiple folding doors has become desirable on many elaborate homes, office buildings or open-air malls. With large openings, the conventional thresholds with weather seals or doors with weather seals attached are not desirable and the need for a flush surface is necessary for wheelchair travel.
Numerous innovations for weather sealing doors have been provided in the prior art that are described as follows. Even though these innovations may be suitable for the specific individual purposes to which they address, they differ from the present design as hereinafter contrasted. The following is a summary of those prior art patents most relevant to this application at hand, as well as a description outlining the difference between the features of the flush threshold door seal system and the prior art.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,654,730 of Alton L. Fraleigh describes a flexible barrier to be extended across the bottom portion of an opening, for example the door opening in a garage, to intercept foreign matter, such as leaves, snow or dirt. The barrier is preferably formed of elastomeric material and has a broad base to be secured to the floor of the garage and has a flexible wall projecting upwardly from the base in position to engage and prevent said foreign matter from entering the garage, said wall being deflectable to permit a heavy object, such as an automobile, lawn mower, work cart or the like, to pass there over on entering or leaving the garage without interference and will then return to normal position. The wall can be provided with vertical slits to increase the flexibility thereof and can have a laterally disposed lip or deflector portion extending from the upper edge thereof to intercept the foreign material and deflect it back out through said opening.
This patent describes a fixed up-right flexible barrier for door openings in a garage. The folding doors described fold horizontally and are used primarily in garage door applications. It would not be practical to be used as a means of sealing an exterior opening to a residence, office building or open-air mall and it would be a definite impediment to the operation of a wheelchair.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,357,979 of John D. Marontate tells of a skirted, hinged panel for an accordion folding door. A base member is attached to the end of each panel. Each base member mounts a plurality of guides. A flexible seal strip extends continuously along the ends of the panels. It includes an engaging bead configured to engage with the guides, and a flexible band attached to the bead and extending substantially to the adjacent structural surface to seal against the transmission of air, heat, light and sound.
This patent describes a skirted, hinged panel for an accordion folding door. Although this type of sealing means will work over a flush floor surface, it is permanently attached to the lower surface of the doors and drags on the floor every time the doors are opened and closed. It does not incorporate a desirable appearance for high-end homes, office buildings or open-air malls.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,052,949 of Jerome C. Procton et al. describes a building entryway system with a high degree of modularity to accommodate active in swing doors or inactive sidelight panels for use with conventional jambs. Specifically, an extruded aluminum sill is mated with an extruded polymeric receiving unit. The receiving unit defines a U-shaped channel, which accepts a weather strip or panel cap. Either the weather strip or panel cap is slidably positioned within the channel under the door. Additionally a door sweep attached to the active doors sealingly engages the weather strip to prevent water from entering the building.
This patent describes a door seal incorporated into a conventional residential doorway. This invention would not be readily adaptable to a folding door system and exemplifies a trip hazard along with an impediment to wheelchairs.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,345,477 of Steven P. Kepler et al. tells of a door sill assembly that is provided with an adjustable threshold. A sill assembly is made up of an elongated metal frame for installation on the floor of the doorway. The metal frame is provided with a tongue and sloping sill portion, a vertically extending rib and a shelf located below and integrally oriented relative to the rib. The threshold rail is supported on the frame member shelf portion upon two adjustable feet for varying the relative height level of the rail. A plastic threshold cap is sized to fit over the threshold rail and includes a pair of downwardly spaced ribs sized to securely fit over the vertical rib of the frame member to locate the threshold cap and rail relative to the frame member while providing limited vertical adjustment. Preferably, the interior trim molding is provided which is fixed relative to the frame member and oriented inboard of the threshold cap
This patent describes another type of door seal incorporated into a conventional residential doorway. This invention would not be readily adaptable to a folding door system and again exemplifies a trip hazard along with an impediment to wheelchairs.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,910,301 of Walenty Kalempa et al. A door seal for use with a bi-parting door in which the door panels of the door have supplementary angled leading edges. One leading edge has a triangular cross-section, while the other has a cross-section similar to a parallelogram. To further the reliability of the door seal, a plurality of magnets with corresponding magnet attracting plates may be attached along the leading edges. Alternatively, both leading edges may have at least one magnet aligned with a magnet on the other edge. With the double magnet configuration, the use of multi-pole magnets is necessary. The magnets also help reduce the bounce between the door panels, which may be closed roughly, and increase the force required to separate the door panels when closed.
Although this patent addresses a door seal for use with bi-parting doors, either sliding or folding doors, it addresses the vertical surfaces and does not take into account the lower surface adjacent to the threshold area. These doors will most likely be used for warehouses, cold storage, freezers and the like.
None of these previous efforts, however, provides the benefits attendant with the flush threshold door seal system. The present design achieves its intended purposes, objects and advantages over the prior art devices through a new, useful and unobvious combination of method steps and component elements, with the use of a minimum number of functioning parts, at a reasonable cost to manufacture and deals with the necessity of convenient handicap access to a wide number of facilities.
In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the in detail it is to be understood that the design is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangement, of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The flush threshold door seal system is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. In addition, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting. As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present design. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent construction insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present application.